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What's next, Mika? Giant alligators in the sewers of New York City? On today's Morning Joe, Mika Brzezinski perpetuated the hoary urban legend that domestic violence spikes on Super Bowl Sunday. Brzezinski's blunder came in the context of the panel's discussion of the NFL's domestic violence mess. Arguing that football is a violent game and that "there's a connection" with what happens at home, Mika continued, "domestic violence on Super Bowl Sunday. We've seen the numbers. Why is that?" Actually, Brzezinski has apparently not seen the numbers, since that myth has been thoroughly debunked, often by organizations fighting domestic violence,...

The NFL is hiring four women to serve as advisers in shaping the league's stance on domestic violence, according to a memo from commissioner Roger Goodell to the 32 NFL owners sent Monday. The full memo, via Daniel Kaplan of the Sports Business Journal, can be read here. The gist of it is that the league attempting to change the outside perception of how it handles domestic violence and, hopefully, an earnest effort to change the actual process internally.

On ESPN’s “SportsCenter” earlier this week, espnW columnist Kate Fagan argued that the big picture in the controversy surrounding former Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice’s domestic violence allegations. According Fagan, the problem needs to be tackled at the so-called grassroots level when men are in their formative years. “Well, I think right now we're talking so much about firing Goodell or punishments. You know, should it be a three game, a two game, a six game, a full year ban? But I think that's a little reactive and not proactive. Domestic violence is something that happens in anger, in...

FORT LAUDERDALE— A man is accused of killing his former domestic partner and keeping the body in his bloodied bedroom, police said. Friends of Otis Blue, 35, became concerned for his well-being and reported him missing to Fort Lauderdale police on Wednesday. Authorities learned that Maurice Goodman, Blue's former partner, was the last known person in contact with him, according to a police release.

Did the NFL suspend Ray Rice indefinitely after he was given an initial 2 game suspension because A.) they saw the video inside the elevator, or B.) because we saw the inside-the-elevator video? If it is because of A, then why did they formulate a 6 game suspension to be followed by banning for a second offense and not apply the 6 game rule to Ray Rice? If this is because the inside-the-elevator video surfaced, then will the NFL have a system for those who are caught by video and those not caught by video? In the end, IMHO, Ray...

One day after Ray Rice was cut loose from the Baltimore Ravens following the release of a video showing him striking and knocking out his then-fiancee, his wife is defending her husband and blasting the media for the pain caused to her family. In an Instagram post apparently written by Janay Rice, she said she felt like she was "mourning the death of my closest friend." "I woke up this morning, feeling like I had a horrible nightmare, feeling like I'm mourning the death of my closest friend," Janay Rice wrote in the post. "But to have to accept the...

(CNN) -- Janay Rice, wife of suspended NFL player Ray Rice who was released by the Baltimore Ravens, apparently posted a statement Tuesday on Instagram calling the situation a "nightmare." "To take something away from the man I love that he has worked his ass off for all his life just to gain ratings is a horrific (sic)," she wrote. The actions against Ray Rice were taken Monday after a video surfaced showing him knocking her out with a punch in February. The Instagram post, reported by various media, appeared to be authentic.

The Baltimore Ravens have terminated the contract of running back Ray Rice, the team announced Monday, the same day a shocking video surfaced showing the NFL star punching his then-fiancee in February. The news release from the NFL team was terse. "The Baltimore Ravens terminated the contract of RB Ray Rice this afternoon," it read. Rice had been suspended by the league for the first two games of the season, a controversial move that led to widespread criticism and to the league re-evaluating the punishment for domestic violence cases.

Allen tried to avoid a trial and jail time by applying to a pre-trial intervention program in New Jersey for first-time offenders. Ray Rice, the Baltimore Ravens running back who knocked his then-fiancee unconscious during an altercation in Atlantic City in February, was accepted into the program in May.

If we're genuinely committed to improving the circumstances of women, we need to get the facts straight Much of what we hear about the plight of American women is false. Some faux facts have been repeated so often they are almost beyond the reach of critical analysis. Though they are baseless, these canards have become the foundation of Congressional debates, the inspiration for new legislation and the focus of college programs. Here are five of the most popular myths that should be rejected by all who are genuinely committed to improving the circumstances of women: More Where Are All the...

In a startling example of hypocrisy, ESPN features a video of singer Chris Brown "breaking ankles" during warm ups for a celebrity basketball game, praising his "skills" less than a month after suspending its own commentators for open and honest discussion on domestic violence. The clip, obtained from the Instagram account of "nitty71" was featured ob the sports networks site with the gushing title Chris Brown Breaks Ankles (video at end of article). Courtesy of ESPN. ESPN had suspended commentator Stephen A Smith for comments he made in late July related to the suspension of NFL running back Ray Rice,...

Yet another Planned Parenthood abortion business has been caught telling a teenage girl to subject herself to violent sex at the hand of her partner. This time, a Planned Parenthood clinic in Minneapolis told an undercover investigator posing as a young teen to allow her partner to abuse her with “rope burns” and “markings” from “clamps.”In Minnesota, the Planned Parenthood abortion clinic counselor tells the Live Action investigator, posing as a 15-year-old girl, that “anything within the sexual world is normal as long as it’s consensual.” That includes going to sex shops, two of which the counselor recommends specifically.“I wouldn’t...

Second ESPN host suspended after admitting he hit his girlfriend in Ray Rice domestic violence discussion just days after another tells women not to 'provoke' men Max Kellerman has been suspended from his ESPN positions He told listeners on ESPN-LA radio that he once hit his now-wife when they were in college The admission came during a discussion of Ray Rice's domestic abuse of his wife ESPN's Stephen A. Smith has also been suspended for comments he made while discussing the same case A boxing commentator and radio host has been suspended from his job with ESPN-LA Radio following a...

Washington (CNN) - The scene is intense: A man is ferociously knocking on a door while a woman inside the house calls 911, saying that her ex is trying to break in. A child sits on the couch. The man bursts in and grabs the child, and the woman yells not to take the toddler. The man pulls out a gun. A shot rings out, and the screen goes black. A child cries out. The violent domestic scenario is only a television ad from a gun control group, but it attempts to portray what some women face. It also depicts...

Now that everybody on Capitol Hill has weighed in on the Redskins name controversy, the men and women elected to represent the people have moved on to a new sports-related target: the NFL and Ravens running back Ray Rice. U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) and Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) sent letters to commissioner Roger Goodell calling for Rice to face a harsher punishment beyond the two-game suspension handed down by the league and considered too lenient by many critics.

There are days when Mika Brzezinski will surprise you. Take Morning Joe today, and Brzezinski's comments on the news that ESPN had suspended Stephen A. Smith for a week for his comments about women "provoking" domestic violence. Said Mika: "I think it's too bad we can't have a conversation without people exploding, because I think he was trying to make a point. It might have been inartful but there was a point to what he was saying that is absolutely valid and has value." Surprising, no? View the video here.

Sweden Democrat MP Anna Hagwall has been censured by the party after saying that women should "stop whining" about domestic violence and that they shoulder the responsibility to end the abuse. "These types of statement signal a high level of naivete and it's obvious this person shouldn't handle these kind of questions," Sweden Democrat party spokesperson Paula Bieler told The Local. Hagwall uttered the comments when asked by Sveriges Radio her view on equality and men's violence against women. The Swedish MP, one of four female Sweden Democrats sitting in parliament, later declined to retract her position in an interview...

A bleeding woman, who police say was stabbed in the stomach by her knife-wielding lover, frantically searched for her dogs as her Lawrence home went up in flames early yesterday. Yohanna Estrella, 34, was arrested after she stabbed her partner with a knife about 6 a.m. yesterday and set fire to her couch, a blaze that gutted much of the two-story apartment building on Haverhill Street, Lawrence police said.

An argument between husband and wife at a Moe’s Southwest Grill quickly flared out of control — with the wife chasing her spouse across the parking lot and gunning him down in front of a supermarket before killing herself, police said. Bruce Strange begged for his life before being fatally shot in the Marietta, Ga., shopping center by his wife, Paula, police said. “Please don’t do it!” the 52-year-old Navy veteran screamed while trying to escape his wife of 32 years, who pursued him in her car.

A woman reportedly shot dead her husband in front of a packed suburban Atlanta supermarket before then turning the gun on herself. Paula Strange, 54, is said by police to have shot dead 52-year-old husband Bruce Strange at a Marietta, Georgia Kroger just after 5.30 p.m., authorities said. It happened only minutes after an argument over dinner at a nearby restaurant, a source told MailOnline. The Kennesaw, Georgia couple was eating at a Mo’s Southwest Grill in the same shopping plaza where the shooting occurred less than half an hour before they were both dead, a person who answered the...